


Training Partners

by Fyre



Series: Defenders of the Night [1]
Category: Trollhunters (Cartoon)
Genre: Creepslayerz, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-22 05:56:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13160688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fyre/pseuds/Fyre
Summary: Steve laughed and flung an arm around Eli's shoulders. "That's what Creepslayerz do: work together to be the best Creepslayerz we can be."





	Training Partners

**Author's Note:**

> This all comes from Eli's line in the background, when he says to Coach Lawrence that he's been training :)

"By the end of the month, you're going to ring the bell."

Eli looked up to the dark ceiling of the gym. Somewhere up there, there was a bell. He only knew because he'd heard other people ring it. He'd never been close enough to see it himself. It looked even further away in the dark.

Somehow, Steve had gotten the key for the gym, but that didn't mean they wanted to draw attention by putting all the lights on and getting caught.

"I-I don't think I can do it." Eli didn't know if it was worse to admit it or to see the look on Steve's face. He was pretty bad at hiding what he was thinking and right now, there was definitely some impatience.

"I'm not the Coach," he said, grabbing the rope and shoving it towards Eli. "I know what you can do."

Eli took the rope in one hand, then looked doubtfully up at Steve. "I've never climbed it before."

Steve grinned at him and knocked him on the shoulder. "You weren't in Creepslayerz before." He grabbed another one of the ropes. "I'll show you, okay?"

Eli nodded, holding onto his rope with both hands.

Steve wrapped both hands around his own rope, then somehow lifted both feet to wrap into the rope as well. "You have to use your whole body," he called down as he went up the rope like a monkey. There was a ding of a bell in the dark. "You always kick your legs around too much."

Eli's felt his face burning. Steve had noticed him on the ropes? And noticed how bad he was? "The rope never stays where it's meant to be."

Steve slid back down, letting go of the rope and dropping the last metre. "Then you make it stay where it's meant to be." He reached out and wrapped a hand below Eli's on his rope. "Show me how you start off."

Eli hesitated again. It was one of the worst parts of gym class, especially when Coach stood and yelled at him about how bad he was. It wasn't like he needed to be told. He looked warily at Steve. "You won't be mad if I can't do it."

Steve laughed like he was crazy. "I know you can."

Eli stared at him. No one else in the school had ever said anything like that to him. Except maybe Jim, but Jim was a superhero so Jim kind of had to say stuff like that. Steve thought he could do it. Maybe he could?

He squared his shoulders, wrapped both hands around the rope and jumped up with both feet, trying to grab the rope between the soles of his sneakers. 

It worked the same way it did every time before: his feet slid down the flapping rope to hit the mat and he was swinging by his arms again. His hands knocked against Steve's and he let go of the rope, stumbling back.

"Sorry!"

Steve frowned. "That lock isn't going to work for you."

"What?"

"That lock," Steve said, like Eli was meant to know what that meant. He must have noticed the look on Eli's face. "Look." He took the rope between his hands and started to climb the way Eli had tried, the soles of his sneakers pressing against the rope. For a second, he held it, then like Eli, his feet slid down. He dropped back onto the mat. "You can't brake and lock the right way, so you lose your grip and fall every time. It means your arms have to do all of the work."

That made more sense. "I'm not strong enough to do it with just arms," Eli agreed.

"So we find you a better lock for your legs." He held out the rope to Eli again. "Do what I do."

Eli nodded, wrapping both hands around the rope. Steve took the next rope along, holding it in front of him. He pulled his knees up, looping the rope under one foot, then over the other. When he straightened his legs, it was like he was standing on a curve of the rope, not even a hand's width off the mat.

"You try," Steve prompted.

Eli grit his teeth determinedly and nodded. 

It took four tries without getting his feet tangled in the rope, but then he was standing on the loop, definitely not slipping, and Steve was grinning at him. 

Eli cautiously moved his hands up the rope, then pulled his knees up and even managed to climb a little higher. His arms were shaking and his hands were slipping, but he started laughing. "I did it! I went up!"

Steve dropped back to the mat. "Told you you could do it."

A few more fingers up the rope was too much. Eli's arms were shaking too hard to go further. He let go and dropped back down, flinching instinctively when a broad hand caught him by the forearm to stop him falling. He looked back up at Steve, who was beaming like a proud mother hen. 

"Pretty good, Pepperjack."

Eli looked up into the dark. "You really think I'll be able to ring the bell?"

Steve nodded confidently. "All you need is some more training."

Eli wondered if he was grinning as much as Steve. His cheeks were hurting enough. "You'll be my coach?"

Steve put his hands on his hips and studied Eli. "I'm thinking better. I'm thinking personal training partner."

"Partner?"

Steve laughed and flung an arm around Eli's shoulders. "That's what Creepslayerz do: work together to be the best Creepslayerz we can be." He squeezed Eli hard enough to almost lift him off the mat. "How about we get something to eat?"

Eli hesitated, then put his arm around Steve's waist. "Sure." 

For a second, he felt Steve go tense and held his breath, half-expecting Steve to shove him back. But Steve's arm stayed around his shoulders and Steve squeezed the top of Eli's arm as they started walking towards the doors.

It felt... nice. Safe. Right.

Eli glanced up, wondering if Steve was feeling it too. He had a weird, kind of thoughtful expression on his face, not one Eli had ever seen him wearing before. "Steve?"

"Hm?" Steve looked back at him.

Eli thought of the hand under his arm, keeping him from falling; the arm around his shoulders; the little ways they'd been leaning more and more on each other. Partners, he thought. "Can we have another training session tomorrow?"

"I think it's your turn, coach," Steve said, shaking his head.

"Huh?" Eli's heart sank.

"I train you for this kind of stuff." Steve almost lifted him off his feet, one-armed. "You teach me the brain-side. Fair's fair, right?"

Eli blinked owlishly at him, then nodded. "Yeah! Sure!"

"Your place?" Steve suggested. The florescent lights in the hall made him look like he was blushing. Maybe he was. Eli knew his own face was pink again. At least he could say it was from all the rope-climbing.

"Sure," he said, leaning into Steve's side. "I'd like that."

He could hear the smile in Steve's voice when he said, "Good."


End file.
